Trump, Clinton take leave from the fundraising circuit

WASHINGTON — Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are trading donors for voters in these hectic final two weeks until Election Day.

Their campaigns say the presidential candidates are halting their in-person fundraising activities. Trump last mingled with donors Monday morning at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, and Clinton made her final fundraising stop Tuesday evening in Miami.

But that doesn't mean the campaign cash will stop flowing.

Clinton's surrogates will continue attending fundraisers on her behalf, and the candidates have robust online fundraising operations.

Trump has had a turbulent relationship with his own party, but his fundraising has benefited GOP candidates up and down the ballot, just as Clinton's has on the Democratic side.

The Republican National Committee and Trump's campaign "have walked together on all of these decisions since the beginning," said Lew Eisenberg, the chairman of that joint fundraising effort.

That includes the decision that Trump's time, at this late stage of the campaign, is better spent on the campaign trail instead of in closed-door fundraisers.

"The RNC finance team continues to raise money all the time, and we are going to continue right through this campaign," Eisenberg said.

Clinton and Trump — as well as a constellation of big-money outside groups active in the presidential race — are due to file reports this week about their fundraising activities through Oct. 19.

In September, Trump raised $100 million for his campaign and Republican partners, while Clinton raised $154 million for her side.

Trump's campaign is planning to spend at least $30.5 million on TV and radio ads in the final two weeks of the campaign, while Clinton's campaign has booked about $25.6 million in airtime, according to Kantar Media's political ad tracker.

Clinton's Tuesday fundraiser was at the home of longtime Democratic rainmaker Chris Korge.

Her campaign communications director Jennifer Palmieri told reporters travelling with Clinton to South Florida on Tuesday that Korge's fundraiser was likely Clinton's last of the election and said, "We met our goals."

"We have had the money that we needed to compete and we are really grateful that people have given us as much support as they have," Palmieri said. "And we feel that we have spent the resources pretty well."